A guard talked "about the importance of looking after my health, trying to be friendly by saying he would refer my case to the prosecutor and to the court as if that had not been done already," Elshamy wrote.

'Contesting the ill treatment'

Three Al Jazeera English journalists, Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, have also been incarcerated in Egypt's Tora prison for 133 days.

On World Press Freedom Day, Fahmy commented on Elshamy's hunger strike, saying that the "dozens of prisoners enduring weeks of genuine, life-threatening hunger strikes, are noble men who have no other way to contest the ill treatment they face in prison."

Journalists covering Elshamy's court hearing on May 3 recorded him as saying that he had not seen a doctor or a lawyer since he was jailed.

Al Jazeera's journalists stand accused of spreading false news and aligning with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that the current Egyptian government considers to be a "terrorist" organisation.

The trial of Greste, Fahmy and Mohammed has been adjourned until May 15.

Al Jazeera strongly denies the accusations made against its staff and has called on the Egyptian authorities to free them immediately.